Seven Soldiers Of Victory: The Miser's Coat (#1)

"The magic mirror spoke of Seven Soldiers who would one day ride against me.. I see no Seven" - Gloriana

So here we are.  The finale of the maxiseries.  We left each miniseries with the Sheeda invasion of New York having just begun.  Can Grant Morrison pull off a satisfactory conclusion to each character's arc, plus depicting more backstory and historical context and a mega battle and its aftermath?  Well, no not quite, it's here that Morrison's reach finally exceeds his grasp.  Oh it comes very close to completely working, thanks to a phenomenal art job by JH Williams III, but in the end there is too much going on in too short an issue, and in places it lapses into incoherence.  Plus unforgivably I had to look up some up on wikipedia because it is not at all obvious what had happened.  Some characters like Shining Knight and the Manhattan Guardian get a very good wrap up.  Others, most obviously, Frankenstein get screwed over and barely appear.  I would have liked it better if all the historical background had been spread across the miniseries and the final issue completely devoted to the fight against the Sheeda.  That said, we would have been robbed of JH William's riff on Kirby's art style plus his lavish Frank Frazetta style Athurian fantasy sequences. He also blends the seven characters we have seen portrayed by very different artists together in a way that keeps them looking unique while also being of the same overall style.  Basically JH William's owns this final issue and that it still manages to satisfy as much as it does can be laid in a large part at his door.

The issue begins with one of the Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp telling the story of the Seven Soldiers destined to save the Earth but never meet.  It seems like he is breaking the fourth wall and addressing the reader, but it later transpires that he is dealing with the rogue "Eighth of the Seven" Zor, as detailed in Zatanna's mini, who put the whole Sheeda plan in motion.

Now that's how you make an entrance.

We then cut to Gloriana as her troops invade New York.  Frankenstein is still in the Castle Revolving's control room, and suddenly Sir Justin/Justina the female Shining Knight rises from the Cauldron of Rebirth and boy does she ever look pissed.  Then we start a lengthy flashback, with JH William's doing a marvellous take on Jack Kirby's style as we see Metron and some other New Gods arriving on pre-historic Earth.

Narrator: "40,000 BC.  The Sky Tribes bring structure to a savage world.  The refashioned it in their own image...The primitive inhabitants of a primordial Earth.  And gave them fire, inspiration and magic"
We then rattle through history, the most important element being the introduction of the red haired Aurakles, the Earth's first superhero, who appeared in Mister Miracle's mini.  He holds the Seven Treasures, the Sword (Caliburn), The Cauldron, The Hammer, The Merlin Sprite, the winged horse Pegazeus and an enchanted spear that can "carry death across time and strike a target a millenia away".

Metron and the New Gods, Kirby style.

The ancient men invent a time machine and visit the future.  The machine is discovered by Melmoth and the Sheeda invent their own, leading to the first Harrowing of the Earth. We jump to the era of Sir Justin and how Arthur found Caliburn and the children of Pegazeus.  Then later recovered the Cauldron from the Sheeda, although if you read my look at Shining Knight's mini you'll know how things panned out for the Earth of this time. We then jump back into the present and the actual battle for New York led by Mahattan Guardian.  The battle is rendered via newspaper pages giving it a unique feel and adding in more information in a way that's fun to read.  Apparently even the crossword is relevant, but I can't say for sure, I suck at them.  Anyway, I can't do them justice, so enjoy them yourself.

And a little further on in the issue, but I'm doing it here as it fits in better, is the wrap up to Manhattan Guardian's storyline.

So cool.  Then we cut to Alix, the Bulleteer, driving through the chaos of battle to get Sally to the hospital.  Sally wakes up and sneers that it's Alix who'll need the hospital, all the while, Justina fights Gloriana.  Then Zatanna and Misty arrive on Vaguard, before Zatanna can raise magic hell, Misty knocks her out saying she just realised the reason she wanted to learn magic was to fight her step-mother.  The Sheeda recognise her as King Melmoth's daughter and she takes off. 

Luckily Ali-Ka-Zoom arrives on the scene and wakes Zatanna up, handing her the little guy in a jar, revealed to be the Merlin Sprite, one of the Seven Treasures. Klarion meanwhile is out on the streets, revelling in the chaos - ominously he wonders "which side shall I..." before being distracted by Misty.  We get yet another text heavy page, which to sum up sees Klarion steal Misty's magic die, using it along with his own to complete the "Fatherbox" another Treasure.  He then flies off on a giant Sheeda insect mount, leaving Misty distraught, and telling the recently arrived Zatanna that no one can stop Gloriana now.

At the same moment, Father Time, the leader of S.H.A.D.E as introduced in Frankenstein's mini, gets a transmission from Frankie which he sent when he was in the future and makes a horrible discovery.

Father Time: "He says the Sheeda are the pinnacle of natural selection...the last living species clinging to a dying Earth!  Consuming their own history to survive,,, They're not fairies, not aliens.  They're us.  One billion years from today.  The Sheeda are what man will finally become!"

Frankenstein is still in Castle Revolving's control room.  Suddenly Klarion appears and as Frankenstein is a "grundy-man" he takes control of him and orders him to take the Castle back to the Sheeda-side.  Zatanna meanwhile uses the Merlin Sprite to power a spell that does something to power up or protect the Seven, it's not totally clear frankly. (Wikipedia says "In the final battle against the Sheeda, Zatanna casts a spell to move time and space, retroactively positioning the Seven Soldiers to overthrow the Sheeda." but that's not at all obvious from the issue itself, ah well)  Shining Knight and Gloriana are still locked in combat, Gloriana gets the upper hand and knocks Justinia off the high spot the are fighting on. 

Zatanna uses Overpowered Magic.  It's Super Effective!

Then we see Mister Miracle visit Boss Dark Side, and now he has "God Sight" he can hear and speak to Darkseid lurking inside his human host.  He offers himself as a trade for Aurakle's freedom.

Darkseid: "I promised the Sheeda a world to ravage in return for Aurakles, beloved of the New Gods."

Darkseid agrees to Mister Miracle's terms, now that Mister Miracle has become the Avatar of Freedom he holds more value.  He shoots Mister Miracle through the head.  Outside, Vanguard catches a falling Sir Justin.  Then I Spyder, having changed sides again, shoots Gloriana through the head with an arrow.  She falls into the road below and with Aurakle's now free the Spear that was throw thousands of years ago can find it's mark in the form of Alix's out of control car (she being a direct descendent of his, the hair you see), and it hits Gloriana and explodes, finally killing her for good.  And with that the Sheeda attack on New York is over.

A battered and badly hurt Gloriana, finally taken out by the most reluctant of the Seven.

Some time after the battle we see Justinia, now on a girls school uniform, talking with Ali-Ka-Zoom.  She is still sad about losing everyone she cared about, but Ali hands her Caliburn and says he found records of a past Golden Age, led by Ystina the Good, "who knows what big adventures you've got waiting".  We get a single page showing Klarion with the Fatherbox celebrating becoming King Of The Sheeda, and last of all Mister Miracle's funeral.  The final image is him bursting out of his grave and with that, this epic maxi-series comes to an end.

"Wise Fwom Your Gwave!"

So, the finale, while bursting at the seams with content, probably could have used more focus on the final battle in New York and it's aftermath than yet more history, although the artist in me still hearts the Kirby pastiche. Frankenstein doesn't play any kind of role in the final battle, although to be fair, he was the main reason they didn't have to deal with a fleet of Sheeda warships rather than just Castle Revolving.  I only know that Klarion became the Sheeda King from Morrison's notes in the back of the collection, it's not at all obvious from the final pages that things have gone down that way. Misty is rather ill-served which is a shame, she had potential to be an interesting character in her own right and I don't think she's ever appeared again in a DC comic post-Seven Soldiers.  However I applaud the creative uses of text heavy pages to impart big chunks of information in a way that's fun to read.  And so, while not perfect by any means, it's still a worthy capstone to a magnificent epic series, which I put up with the best of Grant Morrison.  It's been collected in two generous and good value trade paperbacks and I heartily recommend it.  Great writing, mostly great art, it's a peach.

So, What Happened Next...?

Before I sign off on this series finally, lets have a quick look at the post Seven Soldier's careers of these rebooted, reimagined characters.

SHINING KNIGHT: She appeared briefly in Infinite Crisis, the year long weekly series 52 and the Teen Titans.  But when the 2011 New 52 reboot launched, she became a regular member of the "Demon Knights" in the titular series which takes place in the Middle Ages.  Her background was altered a bit and although biologically female, he was gradually and sensitively revealed as trans-man, however the series was cancelled after thirty issues or so and I'm not sure if he is active in the current DCU.

MANHATTAN GUARDIAN: Sadly DC prefer the original concept of the Guardian, so Jake has been reduced to bit parts in major crossovers, although a team-up between him and the original Guardian may be on the cards in the future.

ZATANNA:  She remains a hugely significant character in the DCU, with appearances constantly in the last ten years.  Most recently she is a member of the New 52 series Justice League Dark, a collection of magic orientated DCU characters.

KLARION THE WITCHBOY: Like Manhattan Guardian mainly reduced to bit parts in major crossovers, but it seems he is to be given his own series, it remains to be seen how much his Seven Soldiers history and powers will feature in it.

MISTER MIRACLE:  The Shilo Norman Mister Miracle recovers from his nasty bout of death (thanks to his merging with Motherbox).  He plays a key role in the battle against Darkseid and the Anti-Life Equation in Morrison's Final Crisis. He also plays a major part in Blackest Night/Brightest Day. But as far as I can see he has not so far appeared in the New 52 DCU.

THE BULLETEER:  Despite quitting the superhero business, she was back in action with a lot of guest appearances in many different series.  But again, does not appear to have been used post the New 52.

FRANKENSTEIN: Although his fate was left up in the air in the finale issue, he also makes guest appearences in various crossovers.  During Flashpoint, he got his own alternate universe mini-series.  Then was given his own title once the New 52 launched.  Sadly this only lasted for sixteen issues, with Frankie going on to become another member of the Justice League Dark after its cancellation.

Seven Soldiers Of Victory: Klarion The Witchboy (#1-4)

"Shall I tell you the hour and date of your death?" - Klarion

With each miniseries Morrison has been having fun experimenting with different genres.  Klarion the Witchboy sees Morrison trying his hand at very weird fantasy, matched with artwork by Frazer Irving that is (once again) absolutely perfect for the subject at hand.  Klarion is reboot of a character of the same way, once again another Jack "King" Kirby creation for DC. Kirby's Klarion came from a place that was called Witch-World where everyone practiced dark magic.  He was extremely talented, but frustrated by the adults of his world, so he opened a portal to the normal universe and with his cat familiar Teekl, arrived on Earth wanting to know all there was about witchcraft and maybe wreak a little havoc on the way.  Morrison stays true to these very broadstrokes, but relocates Klarion to a lost Puritan colony (called Roanoke, which is a real, and infamous case of a town that just vanished) that fell through the earth and was renamed Limbo Town. Klarion is still rebellious and still has a ginger cat called Teekl, but aspects of the Limbo Town's magic and backstory is tied in with the Sheeda storyline rather than following Kirby's narrative.

A "Grundy".

The story begins in Limbo Town, a recently deceased inhabitant is being resurrected, so he can be put to work until he "crumbles".  Klarion, watching this, tuts about what a terrible world it is and his sister hears him and tells him he won't escape the same fate.

Beulah: "I suppose you think you can follow father beyond High Market and never come back.  Think again Klarion".

The undead workers are called "Grundys" and are branded by the towns religious leader, Submissionary Judah. Although the Grundy pleads to be left to sleep in peace he is broken by "Great Croatan who abides and knows all things."  Teekl then grabs something, which turns out to be a tiny Sheeda.  Klarion asks to touch it, but Judah asks if he would be a submissionary and bear the heavy knowledge?

Klarion: "Possibly.  It's the sort of work I'm sure I'd find it very rewarding."

Teekl, Klarion's familiar.

Judah is unimpressed by his sass and warns him off.  Klarion then talks with the new Grundy's son, Ezekiel (who is also Klarion's step-father).  Ezekiel says they aren't dying fast enough to keep the workforce supplied with fresh zombies. Klarion says their world seems insane.  But it seems long ago in the past they were condemned to life in Limbo Town because of a taint that still threatens Great Croatoan.  Klarion wonders how they can both come from a place called "Blue Rafters" and yet be in a place Judah tells them is completely surrounded by stone.  The Book Of Shadows makes no sense he says.

Klarion and Ezekiel chat about things

Ezekiel then distracts Klarion from his ruminations by showing him a precious thing he has.  It was given to him by one of the "trolley men" he met while out looking for Klarion's run away father.

Ezekiel: "This cake of light was not made to last long in our solid world.  But I defied the submissionaries and ate it and I kept it's miraculous imperishable covering so I might remember its sweetness."

And he shows Klarion a Kit-Kat wrapper.  Klarion is fascinated by it, and possibly is the final push he needed to run away himself.  He must move fast though, because of the Sheeda the religious elders plan on closing "the Wicket Gate" and cease trading with the trolley men.  At a town meeting Judah claims to channel their God Croatoan who unsurprisingly agrees the gate must be closed.

Submissionary Judah.

Back home, despite the best efforts of his sister to stop him, Klarion and Teekl sneak out ready to leave Limbo Town for good.  He bumps into Ezekiel who tells him that Judah fears the Witchmen parliament who are not living in fear of Croatoan and implies they won't allow the gate to be closed.  He says he is more scared of his own people than the Sheeda and then leaves to go harvest stones with his Grundified dad and the other Witchmen.

Klarion sends Teekl to cause some mischief with Judah, and using his eyes sees Judah and his two men summon a being called Horigal to deal with the Witchman parliament members.  Klarion races through the Wicket Gate to warn them, but all are killed, and Klarion comes face to face with Horigal, who appears to be a gestalt entity made up of the three summoners and their reptile familiars.

Horigal: "Ye broke the law!  Ye ran away! Ye shall be judged!  Ye sought a world beyond Limbo Town but there can be no such world!  The truth would blind ye!"

Horigal.

Using his wits, Klarion sets a Grundy on Horigal and tries to make a getaway.  Horigal rekills the Grundy and chases after Klarion.  Suddenly a shot rings out, knocking Horigal back for a moment.  An older man appears telling Klarion to hurry as Horigals don't stay down for long.  They are on some subway tracks and Klarion is confused by the approaching noise and lights.  He finally jumps to safety and Horigal is mashed up beneath the train's wheels.  The man introduces himself as Ebeneezer Badde (which I have to wonder if it's a terrible pun based on the infamous Shamen song "Ebeneezer Goode").  Badde asks Klarion his name and where he resided in Limbo Town, after Klarion introduces himself, Badd says:

Badde: "Do you return to you self-imposed punishment down there in the mills of Croatoan?  Or would you go on?  To higher things?  The choice is yours."

Ebeneezer Badde.

Horigal's remains twitch and moan and Badde says it's time to leave before it recovers.  Klarion worries that he can't find Teekl, but Badde says his familiar will find him.  They get on a giant alligator and cruise down a sewerway.  Klarion is gleeful about being away from Limbo Town, in a place that's "hollow and filled with a thousand, wondrous holes that might lead anywhere!"  Feral children congregate on the bank and watch them and throw stones at them.

Klarion: "What a world of mad wonders is this!"

Badde: "It's just a world Klarion...you'll soon get bored."

Badde agrees to show Klarion "Croatoan" and as they walk there they stumble across the dead bodies of the subway pirates from Manhattan Guardian's mini. Klarion asks if Badde ever bumped into his father on his travels, Badde says he has no. Then he finally shows Klarion "Croatoan".  It's the same stone in a radioactive pool No-Beard and All-Beard were fighting over.  Badde shows Klarion a die.

Badde: "This is the house of Croatoan.  This is where the Witchmen come to be initiated in their one great and terrible truth.  There is no Croatoan.  Croatoan is an absent God.  Maybe there was a God here once, but he's long, long gone.  He escaped and left us on here alone.  Only his dreadful chains remain."

Klarion finds out his religion is a lie and is amused.

Klarion finds these revelations to be hilarious.  They return to the sewerway and soon arrive at "the lights of Vanity Fair" where the upper and lower worlds meet.  We then find out what Teekl has been up to.  First she kills "the Rat King" then she communes with the feral children and telepathically tells Klarion that they want revenge on a man they called "The Hunter-Of-Children"  who is of course Ebeneezer Badde, selling kids to a man called Mister Melmoth a person who has specifically wanted a Limbo Town kid.

At the last minute Badde's guilt gets the better of him and he draws his gun, telling Klarion to run.  But the feral kids attack en masse and overwhelm and kill him and it seems the men he was being sold to as well.  Klarion takes Badde's die from his body. 

Note Manhattan Guardian's helmet here.

Later one of the kids is taking Klarion to the nearest station.  She asks if he would stay with them, now the Rat King and Badde are dead, things will be easier for them.  But Klarion wants to see the surface and climbs the stairs into a New York daytime.

Klarion: "Adventure Teekl!  What can we do next?  Which way do we go?

Mister Melmoth: "Allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Mister Melmoth".

Now we already know from the Shining Knight mini that Melmoth is Queen Gloriana's husband (although if you are reading the stories in the suggested order, this revelation comes after Melmoth's introduction).  Still the story doesn't beat around the bush, we are told he is a villain from the off.  The next issue begins with Melmoth speaking to a mysterious group of men.  We are filled in on the backstory of Limbo Town and how it is in fact the lost Puritan colony of Roanoke.  The colonists experienced "intimate contact" with something not entirely human, and when the first changelings were born the colonists turned to a darker religion.

Man: "Like monstrous maggots burrowing away from he clean light, they hid their sins deep underground and there, somehow, they thrived, a lost trive of half-human witches."

Mister Melmoth.

Melmoth says the hostel he runds for underpriviledged youngsters has been joined by one of Limbo Towns inhabitants - Klarion of course.  Who is in awe and wonder at everything he sees.

Melmoth: "Everything is new to him.  Everything is holy."

He says they will be using him to burrow down to Limbo Town and will be "Travelling in style".  The action cuts to a terrified Klarion in a taxi being driven at high speed by one of the other delinquents from the hostel.  They end up at the Museum of Superheroes.  The pimp suited leader is called Billy Beezer, who says his gang was taught by Goldenboy and only takes the best.  Although the better team is called "Team Red" a mysterious group they join when they turn sixteen.

Stealing the giant drill.

Klarion uses Teekl to scout in the museum, and then they all go inside and cause a commotion.  Billy lifts a security guards keys in the confusion and they steal a huge drilling machine which they all drive back to where Melmoth is waiting.  Klarion grumbles that Billy threatened Teekl, Melmoth says that at midnight Billy will turn sixteen and graduate to Team Red.  There is a minor dust-up between Billy and Klarion, Billy feeling Klarion is going to replace him as team leader.  But he stops fighting Klarion when Klarion seems to be abou to curse him.  Later that night it strikes midnight and Goldenboy appears to Billy.  he is exhausted and wearing breathing equipment.

Billy: "I don't think I'm sure about Team Red."

Goldenboy: "...It's lies Billy, and pink skies and gold.  It's a hard labour gang.  Oh help me I've seen the gold mines.  The gold in the red place...You're my apprentice Billy Beezer.  Happy Birthday."

The truth about Team Red.

Melmoth appears and mocks Billy as Goldenboy drags him through something called an "Erdel Gate" to Mars to be set to work making money for Melmoth, and we shall see more of this in the final miniseries Frankenstein.  Teekl watches all this with Klarion seeing what's going on through her eyes, he says to the other kids:

Klarion: "Your beloved Melmoth is a liar, a devil and a betrayer as I suspected.  he wants you all for slaves."
Meanwhile Melmoth has assembled a group of armed men to travel with him in the drill to go plunder Limbo Town.  The other kids want Klarion as their leader, but he walks away from them, saying "look not to me for salvation".

Teekl: "Brother Klarion.  Evil will come to Limbo Town."

Klarion tries to brush this off, saying it's not his problem anymore.  But his conscience forces him to return to warn them of Melmoths coming attack and he reluctantly descends back through the subway.

Cat's are masters of guilt tripping.

The final issue begins with Klarion tied to a stake, about to be burned alive by the the inhabitants of Limbo Town, his desperate warnings falling on deaf ears.  He is ironically saved when Melmoth's giant drill comes crashing through the town's ceiling.

Melmoth: "Hello everyone.  Daddy's home... I had spider-sex with all of your ancestors, you know.  All those hot puritan girls  They thought I was the devil and they crawled underground to have our babies."

Klarion in a spot of trouble.

A woman tries to hex him and she is torn apart by automatic gunfire.  Melmoth says the "royal blood of the Sheeda court" mingled with their human strain.  He wants their homes turned into breeding pens and the adult men killed.  Klarion who was set free as Melmoth arrived, reaches the church and rings nine bells which summon the Grundy's back to town.  They start fighting the soldiers.

Meanwhile Judah is dying from the injuries he sustained while being part of Horigal.  He decides to make Klarion a Submissionary.  He hands him his rod and points to a door which has a closely guarded secret behind it.  It's a map.  As Klarion contemplates it, the others chant "come Horigal, come!"  Outside the soldiers have defeated the Grundies and Melmoth comes to the church.Judah refuses to believe he is part Sheeda, but Melmoth somehow "switches" him off mid sentence.  Suddenly Klarion is revealed as a Horigal, a blending of himself and Teekl.  He shreds the soldiers with Melmoth, who runs outside.  Kalrion gives chase and Melmoth gets set on fire:

Melmoth: "Oh this is tiresome.  Tiresome.  This isn't blood that flows in old Mister M's veins anymore, oh no.  The waters of the Cauldron of Rebirth run through me  So try all you want, I'll never die."

Teekl/Klarion attacks.

Still blazing, he warns the Limbo Townfolk that after the Harrowing of humanity, he will return for them.  Then he disappears.  Klarion and Teekl can't seperate but one of the Witch-Women is able to do it for them.  The remaining soldiers are tied to stakes ready to be burned.  Klarion's mother asks if he will take Judah's place.  Klarion replies:

Klarion: "I would like to be many things before I die mother.  Today... today I will be a soldier."

Teekl and Klarion head back to the surface.

And thus the mini ends with him returning to the surface in the giant drill, to be part of the resistance to the Sheeda invasion.  This is a great little miniseries.  Helped along massively by the gorgeous gothic artwork, Morrison establishes a believeable, stagnant, occult yet God fearing culture in the space of four issues.  Klarion is a fun character, something of a smartarse but fiercely intelligent and of course has a fantastic pet cat (Morrison is a real cat lover and has written his own cats into comics before, notably his run on Animal Man, I wonder if the marvellous Teekl is based on another of his?). Melmoth is introduced as another credible threat and the Team Red stuff is quite chilling and will pay off in the Frankenstein miniseries later on.  One of Klarion's interesting traits is his selfishness, and this will have ramifications down the line in the final issue. The die is also important to remember, especially as Misty from Zatanna's mini also has one. Anyway, this dabbling in weird fantasy by Morrison is impeccably pulled off and makes this one of the maxi-series real highlights.